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It’s that time of year again! One of my favourite stories coming out of Nova Scotia at this time of year is the Christmas tree for Boston and it’s on the move again.

The tree is a thank you to the people of Boston for the aid that was sent at the time of the Halifax explosion. I wrote a post about it here. You can read about the 2016 tree here, the NS government has a page dedicated to it here.

This year the tree is a 47 foot white spruce from Cape Breton that was cut November 15th. The tree left Halifax via truck the 17th and will arrive in Boston today, the 18th. I’d love to be at the lighting ceremony on December 1st. Bucket list item.

Winter has really hit with a vengeance here in Toronto. Let’s keep in mind, though, that we are Canadians and we do winter really, really well.

So invite a group of friends over for the evening, cook up a great meal and welcome your guests with the glow of warm twinkling lights. These ice lanterns look really special on a front porch or lining the front walkway and are super easy to make.

The first example I made was from balloons. Simply fill the balloon by sealing it over the faucet, fill to the desired size and tie it off. Either place on a flat surface in the freezer or set outside as I did. (it was minus 17 the day I made these) Let them sit until the majority of the water is frozen but there is still some left inside the sphere. Bring it inside, cut off the balloon and pour out the water. Set either a real or battery operated tea candle inside.

The second example was made from a mixing bowl and a plastic cup. I simply placed the cup into the bowl of water and secured it with tape so it would stay in place and set it outside. (see photo at bottom) I simply ran some tepid water over the bowl to loosen and remove.

The third example was made from different sizes of plastic storage containers but I inserted bits of cedar boughs into the water. I also tried one with orange slices, you can see that below. You could easily use cranberries, pomegranate seeds, kumquats or anything else colourful.

You can see below the lanterns in the deep freeze.

I can absolutely picture a cold night, the snow sparkling and crunching underfoot and these warm, inviting little lanterns welcoming your guests.